Effluvium

What made you choose this name for the band ..... Effluvium?

I believe the word Effluvium is aesthetically and audibly beautiful.
Underneath the beauty is a grotesque definition. I think the music is tangled mess of beauty and the grotesque.

In your bandcamp there is Symphony No.1 "Let's drink to life not getting any better" Dedicated to Dmitry Shostakovich, can you tell why you chose this match with such a musician? And what are (if any) the possible affinities you think exist between Effluvium and Shostakovich?

While writing Symphony No. 1 there was, and still is, heightened political tension in the U.S.
I had been listening to a lot of Shastakovich and started doing more research on his time composing under Stalin. I felt strong parallels between the two of us.  Also, I fucking love Russian music.

Shostakovich was an eclectic musician and able to put in his compositions stylistic elements taken from jazz, music hall, honky-tonk, through Beethoven, Haydn and Mahler.
Was his musical eclecticism that made you decide to dedicate to him your songs or other factors like the decadent and obscure atmosphere of his music?




I do believe Effluvium has an eclectic style to it and I definitely listen to a lot of Shastakovich.
I hope there are parallels in our music, but that's not why I chose the title.
When I was doing research I found his quote, "Let us drink to life not getting any better." a toast to his life under Stalin.  I fell in love with, I feel it.

 
 Do you think Effluvium can be termed "classic avant-garde DS" ?

There was a debate amongst dungeon dwellers not too long ago over using the term avant-garde.
I think most Dungeon synth/good music falls into the definition. I like the experimental, radical, and unorthodox.

Have you played with other bands before forming Effluvium?

I have done and will continue to make music outside of Effluvium.
I like to play fast too.  Effluvium sort of came from the ashes of a Grind band I was in.
Effluvium is currently my main project.  I plan to start another Grind band soon and expect a Black Metal Effluvium album in the future

Effluvium's music certainly has a very dark and sinister feeling, this feeling comes from a reflection on life and current US "bourgeois decadence"?

Sure, that's a part of it but I hold a lot of hate, anger, disappointment, and resentment for many other things. First and foremost being the American legal system. The whole institution. Cops, Lawyers, Judges, private owned prisons, the whole fucking institution.

What do you think about this exponential growth of groups and labels in the DS?

The growth of fans and participants in Dungeon Synth, as with any music, has its pros and cons.
Sure there will be a greater chance of BS and not DS releases, but there are a lot of great projects out right now.  People are going hard.  Effluvium has toured a big chunk of the U.S. playing with all sorts of punk, Grind, techno, and noise acts. More interest will hopefully mean more successful tours and hopefully make it possible for me to tour other countries. Touring other countries is the number one goal for Effluvium.

Suicide.
Contemplation to suicide has been the engine that has given you the power to create your own music that I think is fantastic, what are the inputs and motivations that you are trying to create? Do you ever meditate on death and its aesthetic beauty understood as a peak of spirituality?

Death is the only thing that is real. I look forward to it. I'd also like to do a lot of sinning before I go, settle a few debts. If nothing matters or lives forever I can do whatever I want and that's what I plan to do..

Your record label Moonshipper Records, has in its rooster artists that vary greatly in their musical styles, what future plans do you have with this label and are you working on new music right now?

I will always work closely with Moonworshipper, unless I get fired for showing up late to my shift again.
All the music on MW is top notch.  Roman Master is one of my favorite Black Metal artist. Satanic Abortion is fucked up unique brutality.  Some might say avant-garde. Chaucerian Myth and Effluvium will hopefully do a split this winter. Moonworshipper plans to press that on vinyl.  I am very proud of what the label has done and very excited to see it grow. Effluvium is currently working on a new release and will be very different than previous releases, the album will be self-produced.

The songs "Burn the Bodies" and "Breath the Stench" look like two songs from the old Carcass, 
there are groups of even the most varied genres that you particularly like and think they have influenced your music?

Main Musical influences for Effluvium:
Bach, Burzum, Moevot, Laibach, John Carpenter, Peste Noire, Russian composers, Krzysztof Penderecki,Current 93, Coil, and Cult Play. (Moonworshipper, check it out) Many other influences but there is a quick list.

What kind of reads do you like?

Lately I've been reading a lot about Wagner and Stravinsky lately

Last your thoughts and free words

"I am above you, I am satanist."
Satanic Abortion

Lunar Womb

Hi Henri,
This interview is a retrospective discussion with one of the pioneers of the DS genre or Hernri Sovali (instrumentalist, sound engineer, composer producer and a member of Moonsorrow and Finntroll, he has been working in the game industry as musician since 2004.
I must say that I run into your music exploring the network with the intent of expanding my DS music culture. The Lunar Wombs are one of the groups that not only hit me but also gave me the feeling of the group that puts a solid stylistic brick in the genre.

Thank you! When we (as Lunar Womb was first a collaboration between three people) started the project in 1994 we were mostly inspired by bands such as Tangerine Dream and Burzum. When the other people left the project after the first demo I wanted to bring more of my other influences to the project, namely the folk- and middle- age- elements combined with the ritualistic and meditative approach of the first demo.

There weren´t many bands of the genre at the time in the “Dungeon Synth”- scene albeit from Mortiis and the sporadic Norwegian offshoots (Wongraven, Neptune Towers, etc) , but I was heavily into projects such as Endvra, Puissance, Elend and Pazuzu which were a huge source of inspiration to me among classical, medieval and folk music in general. I guess that all molded Lunar Womb´s sound what it was to become before going much more folky and melodic in the last demo.

Ok then,
the Lunar Womb project was born in 1995 but only in 2015 it has been resurrected and remastered, in your bandcamp there is written that resembling it gave you the impression that it was dated , but I had the impression  that did not but that is only good music ...

It took me longer than I expected to finish “The Sleeping Green” and when I finally had got the last mixes ready in 2001 or so, I already felt the project sounding a bit too “outdated”, and our cassette label which was supposed to release it was already laid to rest a couple of years before. I was also quite busy with both Moonsorrow and Finntroll and decided to leave the album unreleased “until I think otherwise”.

Fast- forwarding to 2015, I accidentally stumbled across the original recordings again and thought that underneath the bad sound is still beating a strong vision which should be dug out. And that I should give the album it´s last rites, remaster it for good and let it rest eternally. After all, I had put very much effort and soul to it and I felt it still contained the same spirit that was burning (and still is) inside me years ago.
As we had now things like Bandcamp, Youtube and many others and I knew I wasn´t going to need any publisher anymore, I spent several full days decluttering the sound, restoring lost dynamics and fixing horrible engineering mistakes I had foolishly done fifteen years ago until I knew I couldn´t make it any better.

What has convinced you to remasterize "The Sleeping Green" and above all you can talk about your great musical passion that you have ? Can be considered a great relief even at a psychological level?

 


First of all I thought the album should be finally released to the public due to the abovementioned things in the previous answer, but as I had greatly improved in my technical skills during the years I thought I could also take it as a “technical challenge”. My passion for music that awakens feelings and paints pictures unseen is very deep, and as I had conjured everything from my mind back then I also hoped to evoke such visions within the listener´s mind.
I wanted the music to take me somewhere I felt I belonged, and I wanted to show people where that place was. In that sense, it was also a relief to finally show the possible listeners the map there. If the listener finds the same imageries, landscapes and long lost ages that I did, I feel I have succeeded on my humble task.

Does your job at Rovio Entertainment (if you still work with that company) have a lot of influence on your musician's creativity or is it the reverse?

It´s a double- edged sword, really. I have been working as a composer in the games industry since 2004 but I have always had some spare time to waste at work than after joining the Angry Birds, which is much more demanding job. I have worked there since 2013, and while I have become much more professional composer and music producer during the time, it also has sometimes negatively effected my workflow for what it comes to more “spiritual” compositional outbursts on my spare time due to exhaustion. (which also could be explained that during this time I have also started a small freelance mixing service and got two more kids, hah!) 
While doing music at Rovio, I find it very important to still make music which contains something else than just notes in certain order, which is sometimes consuming, as we´re speaking of creative work being done on constant schedules. However, I feel like working in such professional atmosphere feeds my creativity at the same time and pushes me to try different new things and techniques which I wouldn´t even dream of 4-5 years ago. And while I do that, I try to make sure there´s never a moment I couldn´t put a lot of my own touch to everything- for example, on the last soundtrack I made, I included influences from Burzum and Danzig to the package, haha!

Does music in the video game world have something special that can not be transmitted in the same way in DS ?

Absolutely not, if you ask me. There´s a lot video game music hugely resemblant to DS genre, and in fact I´ve been saying for years that some day I´ll write a lenghty essay on the topic pointing out parallels between the two musical forms, haha! To tear it down a bit, both genres are heavily drawing from the ambient genre, are basically existing to evoke feelings and tend to be repetitive and hypnotic on their roots- not so far away from early electronic and ambient music. And New Age too, if you prefer, which is just basically a (poor) spiritual attempt on both.

On the other hand, if we´re taking game music´s most known examples- be it either hanszimmeresque corny movie soundtrack style (CoD, I´m looking at you) or the classic 8/16- bit stuff, I can understand why comparisons to the feelings the DS genre may evoke within the listeners which game music cannot are rather justified. There is a lot of game music which can transmit the same sort of emotions a DS album can at it´s best, and I´d strongly suggest you to check out soundtracks from such classic games as “Myst”, “Diablo II”, “The Dig” and “Fallout II” to get a glimpse of game music in more DS/ dark ambient style, and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons which combines the same elements Lunar Womb´s “Sleeping Green” is full of- only ten times better!

To be honest, I think it´s a shame that the mainstream game music in the 2010´s doesn´t necessarily bring forth such a strong atmosphere it used to do 10-15 years ago due to hollywoodizing/ “playing it safe”- reasons, but if you wander to the more indie side of things, there´s a lot of good things happening on the musical side which you could enjoy. Then again, isn´t this the case with everything, heh?

I do not really like video games and/or various fantasy stories etc. But...
Do you believe that the video games audience has a different, (I would say more superficial, approach) to the music ? or there are sensitive ears between game players that listen with  passion the music that accompanies the game itself?

I pity the fool who cannot surrender to the immersive grasp of fantasy world- after all, that´s what the whole DS genre is all about! ;)  What our societies have forgotten during the constant growth in both technology and efficiency is the art of storytelling and spirituality. Our roots are torn apart and replaced with fast food, homogenic cultures, reality TV and Cosmopolitan. Fantasy literature, movies and games are all part of the same revival as is the DS- genre: not only pure entertainment per se, but a clear indicator that the western society- no matter how well it works otherwise- has forgotten it´s own roots.

For some, it starts from Game of Thrones and for some the glimpse is revealed by a role- playing game while someone wants to understand Deathspell Omega´s lyrics better. But this all is a clear indicator that our world is lacking the depth it once had, and every day more and more people are starting to realize this. Our job as musicians is to take part of that call and strengthen the signal when it´s needed.

When you think about the music used in these forms of art, I believe it´s very much dependant on the game genre, though. It´s really hard to believe someone fully embracing any spirituality or superficiality in Mick Gordon´s (par excellent, mind you) Doom 2016 soundtrack, but am most certain that the more (medieval) fantasy- based the game is, the more it draws in certain types of people who are also much more sensitive to the music than, say, people who are more into Counter- Strike.
 

What do you think about the current development of the DS scene?
Is there any group you like in a particular way?

My knowledge of this lately- resurrected scene is rather minimal at the moment, though I am extremely pleased on the revival of these soundscapes. It seems that the Americans are mostly to be thanked for this, as I haven´t really been exposed on any European people doing this particular style lately...and with lately I mean the last 15 years, haha! For what it comes to any particular groups, Druadan Forest (though having been around since the 90´s), has made an awesome new DS- album which I had the opportunity to master at my studio just recently. It should be out on Werewolf Records soon, and I highly recommend to check it out when it´s released!

The biggest challenge in the whole DS- genre revival in my opinion comes from the fact that as these soundscapes were originally a product of the 90´s, it´s very hard to get the same hardware and sound over 20 years later. Nowadays you can get almost any instrument sampled digitally, but the more common late 80’s/ early 90’s hardware synths from Roland, Korg and Ensoniq are completely deglected as there is no demand for their cheap digital sounds which were popular back then. They aren´t too good to be “retro” but not too good to be useful either for most of the people, thus they are not available in various sample formats for now. But maybe times change in the future?

The computer and sample- based production of the 2010´s has surely brought us a lot of opportunities to use same sort of sounds digitally, but if they were used the exact same way that they were done in the 90´s, the sound would also be dull, outdated and quite poor. It is certainly pure art to balance the old and the new together in a way that is still respectful to the genre, yet with the worst technical flaws defeated.
And we also need to consider the fact that these original soundscapes weren´t necessarily the best of the best at the time- usually they were cheap digital synths with very synthetic- sounding imitations of real instruments and I´m certain the artists would had used more realistic- sounding and generally better- quality sounds if they had the opportunity to do it. Had the scene evolved and continued, who knows how the original concept of e.g. Mortiis would had sounded with today´s technology!


If the Lunar Womb project was continued as you think it would have evolved?

I believe it would had become something very Wardruna- like, yet not as warlike and ritualistic. Immersive soundscapes combined with traditional instruments, samples of nature and a ton of choirs. But definitely more into the dreamy and spiritual side of the bone, though. Lunar Womb was (is?) always about a lonely and long journey instead of a horde of barbarians chanting war hymns....Not that there´s anything wrong with that either, hah!

Are you satisfied with the re-issue of Lunar Womb  “Planets / The Astral Grief” by the Hollow Myths label?

I wasn´t planning to release the re- issue at all and it took quite a many persuading emails from them to finally get my acceptance on the matter. I was willing to do it in the end because I heard there were so many people asking for it in CD form and I wanted to give them the chance to get the music on CD instead of a random Youtube- link which they didn´t want. We have agreed that the initial amount will be 100 pieces and no more shall be printed ever again.

Are you also into techno music?

Among many other music styles- absolutely yes, and if counting ambient out of the context, my particular favourite subgenre is Goa Trance (and some Psytrance). It has the same element in common than in many other music genres I enjoy, which is meditative and hypnotic, slowly evolving minimalism. On top of that it´s also very atmospheric for what it comes to the production and has usually very widely utilized stereo image which drowns you to the soundscapes, resembling a lot of genres from ambient to even black metal.


The artwork from Rudolf Koivuof  of“The Sleeping Green ” is great … Are there other artists and illustrators whom you particularly like their work?

This couldn´t be an interview about 90´s Dungeon Synth without mentioning Theodor Kittelsen and John Bauer, haha! Especially Bauer´s work on Trolls has been a huge influence for me throughout the times. But for Finnish painters more than just Rudolf Koivu, I need definitely to mention Akseli Gallen- Kallela and Hugo Simberg as well. Especially Gallen- Kallela´s works have been heavily utilized in the Finnish metal scene since the 90´s in various demos, magazines and flyers. For what it comes to (painted) art in general, I have obviously always tended to be more drawn into the national- romantic era and find many particularly inspiring pieces from there despite of the identity of the artist.

Recently some musicians are rediscovering the sounds of the old synths of the 90s, of course technologies allow all this, according to you in this genre of music, how important is the atmosphere and the sound, compared to the musical ideas that are actually written?


As mentioned earlier, the technological possibilities of recreating the exact sound of a particular era has been around for some time already, and it may be a tempting idea for a young composer to pick up a sound and start mimicking. But with great power comes indeed a great responsibility, and without first understanding the form of art we are trying to create it is impossible to create nothing a but a bland shadow of it.

When you are creating something completely new or perhaps combining two things together (isn´t the early DS basically just “medieval ambient”, if you think about it?) for the first time, there are basically no rules. But if you´re trying to stay true to an original musical artform, be it anything from classical music to death metal, you need to first have an understanding of the basic characteristics of the genre. A skilled musician can arrange and produce any song into another style with stunning (and sometimes very amusing) results, but without first understanding what he is doing it´s impossible to convince anyone, leaving but a sour taste in mouth afterwards.

Be it any musical genre, both musical and production values are very important, and usually the more “strictly defined” the genre´s characteristical sound is, the more pinned down those values are.

 

Maentis

It's just been a year  (2015) since you were formed as a band until you produced your first album “I Have Tasted Devil's Blood” (2016). How was this year? Have you mixed well with one another at a musical level? and you have clear ideas on the musical style of your songs as they are written, and in particular this instrumental doom style?

Hello and many thanks for inviting us to give an interview!
Alex: For me, it wasn’t really clear how this whole thing would turn out. We tried a lot of different stoner/doom stuff but as we got to know each other better and better a certain style emerged.
Björn: I wasn‘t even part of the band in the first year. I just hung around with them and drank their beer. They had a lot of problems with bass players (some quit, some didn‘t fit in) and at some point they came up to me and asked if I would become their bass player. I haven‘t played bass before but it all turned out pretty well.
Andy: In The first year the three of us (Alex, Jan and myself) spent most of the time finding a fourth member on bass. Writing a full length record while doing so was a total surprise for us!
Jan: It‘s realy outstanding how well we fit together musically. That‘s why songs mostly develop from rough ideas or within jams and then everyone adds some pieces and variations.

Could you consider in the future to have a singer and if so under what conditions?

No. Under no conditions. We are thinking about vocal parts on our next release and if there should be any we will do it by ourselves. The band is complete. No need for a fifth wheel.

Alex's  (Alexander Seidel) did the artwork for the album which is very nice ! Such an image of the devil think it sends a very strong message, Do you have a true faith in the “Devil” (As far as you may believe in this definition ) or is only an aesthetic/attitudinal factor?
Are any of you Is seriously interested into the  occult and/or esoteric issues?

We are more on the occult level as on dope.
We all have a solid knowledge about that topic, but would definitely not consider ourselves „satanists“. La Vey stands next to the bible in the bookshelf. Knowledge and personal inner growth should not be limited by idealism or dogmatism. But that is just our humble opinion. The path is a different for everyone.

Have you ever heard of Selim Lemouchi?

Alex heard of him. But we just found out while answering your questions. The rest of us has never heard of him until now.

I've read that you've met at the university and that everyone is listening and have inspiration from other music genres, which ones are and why?

Alex: I listen to Dreampop and Shoegaze stuff. Mostly because of the psychedelic aspects and the massive soundwalls. I also like 80’s Postpunk and Wave because of the sterile coldness.
Björn: Punkrock - that sound is just a kick in the teeth. I also like Gangster Rap for the totally antisocial aspects and the awesome beats. 80’s Pop music is always a good inspiration for baselines for me. And then there is OM.
Andy: Progressive, Posthardcore, Postrock and New Jazz because there is a lot of stuff in these genres that I never heard before. I dig german Rap, too. Those puns in combination with sick beats just gets me.
Jan: I like Nu Metal. The combination of heavy guitars and rap is something that amazes me. I‘m also into Folk and Blues. That simple storytelling and sometimes minimalistic songwriting structures are aspects I absolutely like about it. And of course plain 70s classic rock.

How important is it for your audience to come to see live and who believes in the quality of your music to convey particular feelings?

We think it‘s important to see doom on a stage. The massiveness and apocalyptic impression combined with friends, your girl/boy and some drinks is really an experience.
Seeing something you listen to live on stage is crucial for music itself.

Is there a mutual support and collaboration with other German bands ? do you share the stage  or other initiatives?

Yes. We come from a small town, so every doom/stoner/psych band knows each other. The local scene is tiny so we help each other out as best as we can.
Kalamata got really far by now which we and all other local bands such as Natem, Willowman and Henbane really pay our respect.




Is it true that you recorded the studio album only in two days and without a click-track?
For what things it was best to record without a click, and for what cases and circumstances would you not do it again?

Yes, that is true. It was just awesome. When you are recording without a click you can capture the interpersonal aspect of playing music together much better. It‘s all more Punk, more vibes, more groove. We haven‘t decided yet how we are going to record our new stuff in the far future.
We rehearsed with click some time ago and it can really shape a song. It‘s all more on point but that‘s the purpose of a click track, obviously. Pros and cons on both sides.

The fast final part of the "Devil's” song can be considered “Black Metal ?

Of course, black metal is a source of inspiration, too!
As we progressed further and further with „I have tasted devil’s blood“ we realized that such a part needed to be in there to adjust the essence of the record and of our intentions.

The beginning of the "Blood" track is very interesting also as it develops the drum pattern afterward ...... we can expect in the future other tracks with the same menacing and disturbing dark atmosphere?

For sure! We are absolutely into Drone, Noise & Ambient stuff.
The new material on which we are working on right now will include more of those elements. We are always checking out new pedals and ways to create the atmospheric sounds that are playing in our heads.

So what is the taste of the devil's blood? :)

Bitter & nice. Addictive. Check out C.G. Jungs shadow work.

Any plans for end of 2017 beginning of 2018 ?

In 2017 we gig alot. Especially in the last third of the year. For 2018 we are planning to finish the new material that we are working on right now. Maybe go to the studio and make a record? Man, who knows.

Impure Ziggurat

Impure Ziggurat is a band formed in 2012, can you tell how you met and had the idea of forming the band?

Rm and myself (Cdrk) were the originators of the band. We were knowing each other since a decade and shared billions liters of booze over the years. One night, after a significant amount of alcohol, we talked about one of our hobbies : astronomy. To be exact, the occult astronomy, unsolved and horrific mysteries of the deep space, quantum physics and the esoteric link between astronomy and the ancient civilizations that vanished into oblivion.
Back in the days, I was fueled since few years by the reading of  tons of “alternative history” books, written by Graham Hancock, Charles Berlitz, Louis-Claude Vincent, Zecharia Sitchin,... dealing with the true origins of mankind, far from the reassuring stories officialy told.
The discover of this disputed litterature was one of the turning point of my life.
After this, we agreed to spread the “gospel” of these books, while at the same time playing a furious Black/Death Metal, sinister and dreadful.
We decided to set our very first rehearsal at the 21th december 2012. Pretty significant date.
Other long-time friends, TerrorReign and Ldvc teamed up with us few months later to complete the line up and brought their own stone to this macabre edifice.

According to you, why create a new death / black metal? Do you still have the same spirit as the old bands and Impure Ziggurat can replicate it in its original way?

We're all fond of Metal, we don't think that “there's too much band” or that the genre is done. There's too many shitty bands, that is not the same thing.
During the early days of extreme Metal, there was already terrible bands, but at least people involved in them were dedicated metalheads, at least while they played their music. Now the scene is polluted by people with attitude such as “We like Metal, but we are not metalheads. Metalheads are retarted teenagers, we are musicians.” I HATE this so much. These guys deserve to be beaten up 'til death.
One way to fight them is to create some good and dedicated band,  it does not matter if they're originals or not. We can listen all days to some good copycats of Blasphemy, Sarcofago and Slayer so the sterile quest for originality is not our priority.

I've been able to listen to your demo "Raping the Quantum Womb of the Macrocosm" and your EP "Serenades of Astral Malevolence" they both have a primitive sound, but I believe that there are future possibilities for your music of a further evolution;
 Melodies could develop further and not necessarily be so minimal... do you think Impure Ziggurat will develop more complex and articulated music in the future? Or instead you think that the current brutal form alters 100% what the band deeply is?

From the early beginning of the band, the musical direction of the band a clearly engraved in our mind and flesh : hellish drumming, low grunts, simplistic rhythmic guitars and sorrowful guitar leads over it. We have found our way. We won't change it. We won't change anything. We're stubborn people.
Evolution could bring improvement, but it also could bring corruption and alienation.
In various style, Immolation, Revenge, Bolt Thrower, Sadistik Exekution or Motörhead never changed anything in their music and their discographies are flawless.
On the other hand, look at Mayhem, Emperor, Metallica or Manes : they turned to crap when they tried to “evolve” and tuning back to their roots and to their “trademark”.
There are trends in both black and death metal that cross and mix at an ever-increasing rate, from the tendency of dissonances and the abandoning the classical black metal and death sounds to converge to this so-called  “avant-garde” sounds ( A very weird definition in my opinion).

The number of bands that develop this “avant-gard” thing is becoming really high, what do you think? And especially what are the groups that are still able to convey a feeling of attraction and involvement without having to adopt such a stylistic change?

In one word : crap.
In two words : fucking crap.
I fucking hate it. All these Icelandic bands who suck the late albums from Deathspell Omega, with boring dissonant guitars, and an anti-Metal attitude, anti-Metal artwork and, to say the least, anti-Metal faces.
Other cesspool of shit, the whole “post-Black Metal” thing. When you add “post” to something, it must be a pretentious turd. Seriously, take a look at the guys of Deafheaven, Sun Worship,...  Are these pussies black metallers ? Fuck, they're not even metalheads. Shove their Starbucks coffee mug into their weak ass and throw them to the pigs.
I see that your topics also tend to be based on something that has been written by others.
(I usually do not read lyrics that tell me about things that others have written unless I'm interested in the subject).

Don’t you think that even the way in which certain topics are placed and developed in the lyrics ( sometimes is like reading a book on ancient religions or in other cases a grimorie or boring treats of magic etc without counting the childish non sense about satanic stuff) can bore or be a little redundant sometimes?

In Impure Ziggurat, we have a message : there's an hidden and cyclic plague upon us,  a curse cast from the celestial horizons, a threat that will annihilate mankind as it already partially destroyed it  in the past, in -11 000 BC.  I refer to the great comet, the old Snake made of dust and ice which came from the sky, that hit the Earth at the end of the Pleistocene age, leading to a world cataclysm, a shift of the continents, killing 90% of  the population. I am dead serious about it.  It happened.
So, we came here to spread one prophecy that could be sumed up in one single word : DEATH.
People interested in these theories can check out the authors quoted prevously in this intie. I can also suggest the works of Colin Wilson, Robert Bauval, Immanuel Velikovsky,... I already said too much about it, I deeply think that knowledge is a Luciferian quest : a hidden and tortuous path you have to walk alone, through the anxious dark and against all, until you reach the enlightment of the truth.
To quote the old DarkThrone song “Quintessence” : “only one single lamp do show me this way and it's the eye of Satan. “
Satan does not want slaves.He does not want people who faithfully bow in front of icons of Him. He leave this to false Gods and their flock of afraid insects. Satan wants his insiders to be strong, to be clever, people with the will and the knowledge to become Masters at his side.
And I have absolutely no problem with regressive satanic lyrics : they are a pillar of the extreme Metal genre and I support the filthy obscenity that emanate from them. My other band Hexen Holocaust mainly deals with this, by the way. I totally prefer a band which deals with Molochian orgies where whores are drunk on goat cum than philosophical wankery about the duality of the soul written by dickheads who think they're so smart and above the pack.
The monotheist plague is still alive and it is a duty to hate it, a duty to to stand against it, a duty to blasphemate it again and again, in the name of reason, in the name of freedom of your mind.

Which bands  have most influenced you since you started to play?

One of my main influences was Krieg, from the demos to the Black House album. After this, this band is dead to me.... Other influences can be found in Demoncy, Beherit, Hate Forest, Blood of Kingu, Inquisition, Black Crucifixion, Von, Judas Iscariot, Belial,... We like a lot the 90's american Black Metal scene and the finnish originators of Black/Death sound.

Impure Ziggurat shares band members with other bands of a certain caliber, are you very much united in supporting each other?

I guess you make reference to Svart Crown, as Ldvc plays in it ?
To be honest, I am not very much interested in their Metal, I'm not into their modern sound and their song-writing. To my taste, it lacks of a filthy atmosphere and bestiality. But Ldvc is one of my older friends, nearly since two decades and a genuine metalhead so I have no problem with that.
On the other hand, we share a lot of values with Necroblood, which is one of the best french bestial band still around nowadays.

Social media do you think them as a tool that has positively transformed the music environment? And how important is it for you?

We have no problem with Internet and the social media.
I guess it's mostly an improvement for the underground gig organizators to promote their activities and for the small bands like us. Thanks to this, we are in touch with maniacs living in Australia, Chile, Singapore, New Zealand,...
You can deal without it but then you have to :
a) Already being a well-known band that reached a critical mass with their fanbase
b)Getting a massive support from your label which is also well-known.
Black Witchery, for instance, can live outside of the social media sphere because they fill these two conditions. It's impossible in our case.

Has your 7 "EP been recorded, mixed, burned and printed all in analog mode?
The advantage of analog sound dynamics according to you is today properly understood?

No, despite it was released on vinyl, it was recorded with digital equipments.
Like most of the vinyl releases nowadays in fact.
We're a small band and we definitely can't afford a fancy studio with such gear.
Everything is homemade. At least, we keep the control upon our work, though Cam Sinclair (Diocletian, Witchrist) did the mixing/mastering job and he did it perfectly.

What do you think has changed in the attitudes of today's bands compared to those of the 1990s?

To talk only about Black Metal, 2O years ago, this music was not just music : it was a way of life. You had to dress in black all year long, to have long hair or bald, to be intolerant and sectarian. I support 100% this. I am sectarian. BM is supposed to stay a nearly-clandestine cult, not another “alternative music” amongst others. We don't want media attention. We don't want some “documentaries” movies to be filmed.  We don't want to bring to the gigs your work mates to make them “discover your world”.
Thanks to Internet and to the hipster cockroaches of Vice and Noisey, now Black Metal is just a music. And of course, BM must be compliant to their own ideology : open-minded, respectful of everyone, blahblah.
No misunderstanding : there is still today A LOT of genuine killer bands that keeps the unholy flame of hate alive. Peple who says “Black Metal is dead” are wrong. THEY are dead, at least inside. They lost the inner spark. I can agree that the peak of the genre has been already reached, but there's every single month so many killer releases...

I read that it is not easy for you to play live for various problems (where you live etc.)
What kind of live concert offer  would  convince you to play live and to what conditions?

Indeed, all the members are scattered around France and TerrorReign even live in the USA since few years, so rehearsing and recording is always a problem. Impure Ziggurat may remain forever a studio-only band. We would not like to provide a half-assed show due to a lack of rehearsing or poor conditions in the venue. Beside this, I like the idea that some bands will never appear on stage, it grant them a shroud of mystery.

Are you playing with other bands at the moment? and/or do you have parallel projects?

TerrorReign is also a part of the savage Black/Death warmachine Necroblood, their first full-length “Collapse of the human race” is out since april. Total bestial attack in the vein of Conqueror, Axis of Advance and Archgoat.
About myself, I also play in Hexen Holocaust, a primitive Black/Death Metal band including some members from Necroblood, Venefixion, Osculum Infame,... Our first MCD “Heretical Dreadful Orgies” is also out since april. Regressive stuff in the vein of Profanatica, Von, Sarcofago, Bestial Summoning,...

Do you listen also to different styles of music?

No. Only extreme Metal prevails. We're stubborn and close-minded people.

What are future next plans for Impure Ziggurat?

We're currently writing the material to appear on a MCD/MLP untitled “Crimson tide from the Pleistocene”. Hopefully it will be recorded late 2017/early 2018 and released... only Satan knows. It was supposed to be a full-length but we're pleased with short-length releases.

Free words say what u like 

This planet is doomed. Enjoy your last days, the worst is yet to come.

Cloud

When and in what circumstances were you formed as a band?

It was something I had as a personal project to start. Scott took interest and thats when it became an actual band. I'm going to say 2012. But who knows, it was a long time ago for sure.

The stoner doom genre is really inflated by thousands of groups that all sound alike, but in your case I have noticed a differentiation in the creative style, is your intention to detach yourself from certain stoner and doom music cliches or think that playing this genre Does it consist of staying within certain fixed musical parameters?

Personally I never really considered us doom. Stoner rock, Desert rock, whatever, that's always been a huge influence in the way we create music. Progressive music, 80s metal, and really anything with drive kind of articulates our approach. All of that aside, I feel like the shit we write just comes naturally to eachother. It's not always a good thing either. Some of our more simple riffs will be the headaches, but sometimes less is more and sometimes you run out of beer

How did you think of writing a song on the mystical tree of the 9 Worlds of North Yggdrasil culture?

Vikings, Norse mythology, it's all fun to learn and read about. When it was written it really never had a beginning or end. It felt like so many songs packed into one. It made sense to have a song called Yggdrasil. I remember while that song was being written,  we knew it would be last on the album. We look at it as an opening to take any approach or sound we want to take for the new record. We will see

Why print only 100 copies of "Indeterminate"?

Honestly, it's a struggle. That's what we could afford at the time. We have self published everything we have done so far. So keeping the merch stocked has been a real challenge.

Do you think you might even print your previous EP on a physical media?

Everybody wants the 7 inch of the EP. We get flooded with emails about putting it out on physical format. The answer is yes! I want that shit on vinyl just as bad as the next guy. Plus, Mark crushed it with that artwork. That's easily one of my, if not my favorite pieces of art. And  we got to use it for our album cover!!!

I think one of your strength is originality in some ways the influence of progressive music and the characteristic of being a group of instrumentalists where you do not absolutely feel the lack of a singer .. are you thinking of sharing this point of view? Or do you think that you will have a singer in the future, even if only for some songs like "Desert Weed"?

Singers get brought up often. I'm not against the idea at all. Josh likes to run with the idea of a singer when we practice. He will throw in loose lines every once in awhile. But ultimately we never think of a voice on top of our music. Gabriel crushed it on desert weed. If I could get him on every song I would. It doesn't get much better than that

How did you get in contact with Gabriel Ravera of the Mephistofeles band? 
(Mephistopheles is a group that I already jumped to my listening for their skill and originality)

I was into his artwork. Honestly I messaged him as wizardofmeth and asked if he could help me out. It quickly became a friendship. Gabriel has heard everything Cloud has written before the public has. He's shared the Mephistofeles stuff with me before it was released. I've heard songs from the new album already. He's a good dude and a hell of a musician.



How is the current music scene in Pittsburgh? Are there other promising bands?

Pittsburgh is whatever you want to hear. It's here somewhere. Whatever your musical taste.

Did you vote Trump ?
no

Who created the artwork of the album "indeterminate" and with artist for your future work would you like to collaborate together?

Mark Paich is an amazing friend and the helpful genius that constructed the artwork for both our EP and full length. If it was my choice I'd love for Mark to do our artwork work until Cloud is finished. Time will tell.

Do you play live often ?

We play any show we can get